The above quotation, "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto" by Publius Terentius Afer translates to "I am man. I consider nothing that is human alien to me." I heard this quotation the other day and again today. I liked it when I heard it and today, I determined that I must discuss this in writing tonight. There is such power in this quote; it both inspires me and repels me at the exact same time. I can't, however, argue the truth within this Latin quotation from approximately 160 B.C.
I consider anything that any human being has done, both horrific and inspirational, as something that I could also be capable for I am human too. This could possibly explain why I have such a hard time thinking about things like the Holocaust and the tortures that occurred there as so personally painful. I cannot say that I would've done anything differently if I was in the shoes of the Nazis committing those horrible crimes. Specific situations dictate specific actions and there have been enough studies on the human psyche that show approximately fifty percent of people will do something they consider wrong certain circumstances.
It reminds me of a study done by Stanley Milgram in 1963 who researched how people would respond to an authority figure who requested them to do something that conflicted with their conscience. For those that may not have heard of this experiment, he had a "scientist" ask the study participants to electrically shock the person on the opposite wall if they were unable to memorize something properly. He told the participants that the experiment was to see if people would remember things better if shocked any time it was incorrect. He then hired actors who purposely would recite it back incorrectly and scream progressively louder as the voltage was increased. His findings were that 50% of the people continue to shock people (after showing that they were not comfortable and thought it was wrong) past the point of even death just because they were being told to continue by what seemed to be a "respectable authority" (the scientist) and also weren't going to have to take responsibility.
That figure is staggering. I can't help but ask myself, "would I also do that if someone told me to or would I refuse?" Milgram proposed this study after learning about the holocaust. Please remember that after blatantly stating, that what they were doing wasn't right, the study participants would continue because they were told, "The experiment requires that you continue" by the scientist. That's not even taking anything drastic into consideration like, "do this or you and your family might join them." Even if I did refuse initially, would I still refuse if they threatened my family? I honestly don't know. I'm just as capable of it as any of the Nazis; they couldn't have all been sociopathic sadists.
Of course, Milgram's study isn't the only one of this type of nature. They do all kinds of these types of studies. Thinking back to the show, "What would you do?" which is basically like candid camera where regular citizens would witness something that may be controversial (two men kissing, a woman being verbally abused by her boyfriend, a lost child asking for help) and see how people would respond. I'm always surprised when people do the exact opposite of what I think I would do in the situation. There are obvious ones, I've walked by two men kissing and I wasn't phased in the least but what about some of the other scenarios? What would I do, indeed? I want to say that I would assist the woman or the small child but would I?
Would remember my mom's story about her cousin Ann? Her cousin Ann watched her boyfriend be murdered because she stepped between a man and woman during an abusive argument. When he stepped in and pushed the man aside to protect the woman, she stabbed him in the stomach. I can't imagine what that must've been like to witness. In many cases, victims of abuse lash out at those who publicly try to protect them in front of their boyfriend or spouse because they know that when they inevitably return, their punishment for allowing that to happen would be so much worse than otherwise. It's terrible on all ends. It makes me what to hurt the man who is abusive.
There are times when I think about the man who abused me and think, "how could he have done that?" But maybe under the same upbringing and social circumstances that he experience I would be prone to do something similar. As it was, in an attempt to combat his sexual abuse, I resorted to some verbal abuse. I said things to him I would never say to anyone because I had no other way to assert myself and the struggle for control and power was something I had never experience before then or since. My verbal abuse did little to protect me, if anything, it made things worse but at the time it was the only thing that made me feel like I was "fighting back." As you can tell, my domestic abuse was nowhere near as bad as some. I struggle to think about what it would've been like if I lived with him. I was lucky, I was in high school. I had to go home. There was a limit to his control.
The idea that I would incapable of doing anything heinous is something that's conflicted me for sometime. Really, there are certain situations where one doesn't know how they would react until they are in it. Most people are afraid of this idea and cling to their assertions that they would never do that under any circumstance. Maybe it's because I've already learned this for myself in other aspects of my life that I don't want to get into now. All I can hope for is that if or when the time comes where I am given a choice like that, I am able to make the right one.
Now, that I've said all of the horrible implications that the above quote could derive, there are some really positive things. Just as I could do those terrible things, I also have in me to do incredibly good things. I could lead a group like Martin Luther King to further social rights, care for someone like Mother Theresa, or just choose to do the good deed rather than ignore a situation all together. All of us have the potential to contribute something positive and as much as I've seen the studies that show people's capacity to dehumanize, I've also seen the exact opposite. In that "What Would You Do" show, there are people who do help. Not everyone walks by, unsure of what to do or not caring.
I believe that our natural inclination is to help one another and I see this during any type of tragedy that may occur in the world. Right now, I'm thinking about September 11, 2001. For all of the terrible things that happened that day, I learned a lesson that I will never forget: it took the people who committed this crime months and months to plan and commit but it only took a few moments for regular American citizens to pull together and try to help one another be it forming a line to remove the debris or cooking food to feed the volunteers. People are capable of doing those kinds of deeds and it is my personal belief that we initially think of the positive but then prevent ourselves because we're afraid or unsure what to do.
I see the positive deeds all the time and I don't believe that society does a very good job at promoting those. We never hear about the young boy who helped an old lady cross the street or the person who returns the purse they found with all the money still in it. No, it is far more likely that we hear about the hooligan to push the old lady down and ran away with her purse instead. For all the bad things I hear, I try to believe that at least two positive things were done that I don't hear. Maybe that's naive of me but I don't think so. There is good in everyone, even the man who abused me. It's just that sometimes we find it difficult to remember.
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